Hospital gave toddler plaster cast on wrong leg

A toddler who fractured her leg was sent home with a plaster cast – on the wrong limb.

All right now: Lucy with her plaster cast on the correct leg (Picture: SWNS)

Lucy Rylatt hobbled on the broken leg for five days before her parents realised the mistake.

Her father, Dave, 49, said: ‘You almost can’t believe it could happen.’The youngster injured herself on a trampoline on a family holiday in Somerset and was taken to a hospital in Minehead where doctors suspected a fracture in her right leg.

But when she was referred to nearby Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton staff mistakenly plastered her left leg – and allowed the 23-month-old to return to her family.

The error was corrected in Minehead after a complaint by Mr Rylatt and his wife Samantha, from Westford, Somerset.

A spokesman for Musgrove Park Hospital apologised and said: ‘To protect children from the risk of radiation we don’t request X-rays unless there are sufficient concerns.

‘Unfortunately, having examined Lucy, the doctor felt it was the left leg that was injured.’